Along with being an action movie with lots of guns and car crashes, The Taking of Pelham 123 is also a tribute to civil servants, union members and vets. It a desperate race against time and New York traffic, cops get wiped out in motorcycle  spills and nasty pile-ups, while a disgraced  MTA director (Denzel Washington) tries to keep the bad guys from killing hostages on the captured train car.

The mayor is a comic pompous douche, a combo of Giuliani and Bloomberg, and it takes him well into the movie to figure out the actual past of the nasty train hijacking mastermind–something seriously we in the audience had pegged within his first conversation with Washington’s character Walter Garber.

John Travolta plays the evil hijacker with colorful depth and glee, though seriously neck tattoos on ex-cons is a sort of a cliché and telegraphs too much info. My first thought was “He must be pulling the heist in order to afford some lengthy sessions with Dr.Tatt-Off, ink removal expert to the stars.” Travolta’s Ryder is able to pull truths out of both Garber and the mayor, shocking and embarrassing them and their co-workers, as Garber and hostage negotiator Camonetti (John Turturro) struggle to keep the passengers alive as the deadline approaches.

This is a far better movie than I anticipated, deeper, more nuanced and less clichéd than the action classic Die Hard, which is the Best Christmas Movie Ever but then again, it’s twenty years later.  Modern touches like web casting come into play along with universal characters like the world most annoying girlfriend

"Do you love me?"

"Now is not the time!"

"Just say yes. It takes less time that to say now is not the time."

Facepalm.jpg, sister, your bf is being held hostage on a train using his laptop and  Bluetooth to get give out some info, and you want to dissect your relationship? Sheeesh.
 
Garber’s humanity comes into full force has he reveals himself as a beleaguered civil servant and unwitting hero. He also is forced to admit his wrongdoing in a rough scene that displays Washington’s subtle acting skills, countering the more bombastic Travolta.

And in the end, it is the heroism and dedication of the police and the MTA that saves the day. It’s a workingman’s movie where the bad guys and morons have glassed in offices, custom made suits and kill for money, while the little guy saves the day.